Overall market share data gives us some idea of what people put down their hard-earned cash for. According to Gartner, these were the top 10 manufacturers globally for mobile phone sales in the first quarter of 2010:

Nokia

Samsung

LG

RIM

Sony Ericsson

Motorola

Apple

ZTE

G-Five

Huawei

It's probably a fair assumption that Lifehacker readers are more likely to use a smart phone. In that category, here's the biggest selling platforms, again from Gartner:

Symbian

BlackBerry

iPhone

Android

Windows Mobile

But none of that data tells us why people choose a particular phone over its rivals. So I'm asking Lifehacker readers: what's your phone of choice, and why did you choose it? Price? Application range? Input method? Mobile network coverage? Liked the bezel? Tell us in the comments, and I'll round up the results next week.

I use a Blackberry, its simple, fast and easy to use on the go. No fuss = less time fiddling around.

The main reason I got a blackberry is that it was designed specifically for use in business. The form and function is close to perfect. Am onto my second version of the bold and the improvements have been fantastic.

Symbian, because I'm still on contract.. and will continue to be Symbian because the others are out of my price range at the moment.
I'm hoping the HTC Wildfire (Android) launches in the sub $50 and preferably the sub $30 bracket.
Not interested in iPhone until it gets 900MHz 3G, Blackberry is too business focussed and Symbian is just old and from what I can see, dying..

Iphone - love the internet expirence and easy of use and of course apps available, I now like how easy it is to emails and mms photos, like the txt conversations layout.
HATE itunes... I use winamp for GF's ipod, Y cause its easier and better to use. Terrible battery life, but I live with it. Terrible "phone" all round really for making phone calls sound output, 3g connection, mic input all work against it being a decent phone compared to say a nokia.
I just like the net... i mean lifehacker and apps at my fingertips and can deal with the downfalls... and have so for 2 years and 2 iphones, soon to be 3rd. sad really.

I have previously always said Nokia. They have Previously been stable and full featured. But now they I have a N97, I'm at times wanting to choose my previuos E51 over it. I'm on a contract with the N97, so I'm stuck with it. The trap I fell into with the N97 is that the phone works great when there is nothing on it. I played with it in the shops and it was a good experience. Now that I have it loaded with Contacts, calandar, emails, tasks via MS Exchange, its not a happy phone.

Ive posted this before, but i have a UK Motorola Milestone on android 2.1 on the Optus Network.

Android is the most up to date, and open Smartphone OS available, and it has very few limitations. The biggest limitation on my phone is that i cant use an unsigned kernel (Motorola has locked the bootloader), because thats what Motorola want, but as i see it i was never going to Hack away at the OS, I don't want my daily phone to lose its stability.

Nokia E71. Got it when it was first released and it is probably the best nokia have done imho (except maybe the E72 update). I've been a long time nokia fan but unless the new Symbian OS is a massive improvement, something with Android will be getting my dollars next. Nokia just haven't kept up unfortunately. I'm due for a new phone and I'm happy to wait until a few more Android phones are released in Australia. I wish our telco's would keep up with the Android releases. HTC Desire and Legend are a good start though. HTC Legend styling with high end internals would be nice. Are you listening HTC?

iPhone - mainly because at the time I needed to replace my old dumb phone that had died in a hurry, and deal on the iPhone was really good, and the deals on Android based phones were so mediocre.

While I find the iPhone great as a smart phone device, I do waver between desiring an Android based phone (I would rather write Java than objective-C if I'm gonna hack) and the Nokia N900 for it's extreme openess and hackability.

HTC Hero - Android 1.5
Got it because needed a work phone - was looking at Nexus One, but couldnt go that path because exchange support was too low - HTC adds some extras that allow more functionality. Even so, needed a few tweaks on exchange server to allow device. Loving android, but really hanging out for the 2.1 update. Personal phone is Nokia 6110 Navigator, but contract has expired, so when 3 releases some new android handsets, will be upgrading.

Nokia e71 - got it because it was cheap and I wanted something that was solidly built and reliable. It has plenty of features, I browse the net on it a lot and best of all it has amazing battery life. At the time I got it I wanted an android phone but prices were too expensive. That's not to say I've been at all disappointed with the e71, it's been nothing short of fantastic and the best phone I've had in awhile. However my next mobile will most definitely be something running android, maybe a HTC Legend or Desire